Widening participation

How we support widening participation (widening access in Scotland) through our products and services.

We work in partnership with charities and other sector organisations, to provide practical and inspiring information, advice and resources for under-represented groups, as well as producing reports to inform public debate.

We've produced a range of materials to provide you with information to support widening participation.

Barriers and motivations associated with progression to higher education

In July 2016, we published Through the student lens – a report designed to explore perceptions about progression to higher education from the learner’s perspective. Over 16,000 recent applicants responded to the survey, about the motivations and influences behind their university choices, and the factors that deterred them — making it our widest ever student survey.

Key findings

The younger that students decide higher education is for them, the more likely they are to go to a ‘higher tariff’ university.

Nearly half (49%) thought the entry requirements to these universities were too high – more would have applied if they had known they had a chance of getting in.

41% believed none of these universities offered the courses they were interested in – there was a lack of understanding of career pathways from ‘academic sounding’ degree courses.

Non-A level progression routes

Our work across the sector tells us that alternative progression routes to higher education are much less well understood than the traditional GCSE/A level route.

Our progression pathways project comprises areport(1.19 MB) and suite of materials aimed at learners, advisers and providers, to support a better understanding of the advantages and issues related to non-academic progression pathways – including vocational and technical qualifications and apprenticeships.

Insight into application trends and behaviours

Every year, UCAS publishes an End of Cycle Report(2.58 MB) which provides data and narrative reports, helping to describe national trends in applicant behaviour across the four countries of the UK.

Contextualised admissions

Contextual information and data can be used by universities and colleges to assess an applicant’s achievement and potential in light of their educational and socio-economic background. This is called contextualised admissions, and the aim is to form a more complete picture of the characteristics of an individual applicant.

What’s my role in this?

As a teacher or adviser, it’s important to be aware of this practice, so you can give the best advice to your students. Contextualised admissions may encourage aspirational applications to higher education, and can help explain why a student has received a certain offer. It seeks to identify those applicants with the greatest potential to succeed on the course. It is also commonly used to inform support provision at other stages of the application process, and once a student has enrolled.

What practical steps can I take to help?

Encourage your students to complete all the relevant application fields in full. The contextual information submitted on the UCAS application is critical to facilitating contextualised admissions.

Use the reference to indicate any further contextual information which might warrant special consideration. This could include individual circumstances – e.g. mature student, disability, widening participation activities, or information about your school which may affect performance, such as significant staff changes, or damage to buildings.

We’ve produced this factsheet(443.74 KB) in conjunction with the Fair Education Alliance (FEA), to explain what contextualised admissions might mean for your students' applications.

Self-declared applicant data collected in UCAS Undergraduate Apply

In addition to standard personal details and qualifications information, UCAS also gives applicants the opportunity to declare additional information — such as an impairment, or experience of the care system. We ask these questions to give contextual information to providers, to identify those applicants who may be eligible for additional support – whatever form that may take – i.e. financial or emotional.

Toolkits

We've developed toolkits with information and advice to help support under-represented groups applying to higher education.

Care leavers – there’s plenty of support in higher education for care leavers with finances and accommodation, and with settling in to new surroundings.

BrowseAloud

Use BrowseAloud to translate information and advice pages on ucas.com into different languages. The software includes spoken translation into 35 languages, and written translation into 78 languages. Just select the Listen/translate with BrowseAloud option on our page footer.

Our work with other organisations

We work with a range of organisations to provide relevant advice to different audiences. Examples include our work with the Carers Trust, providing examples of university initiatives for students with caring responsibilities, and MASIS (the Mobility And Support Information Service), a charity which provides information and advice about access and inclusivity for people with disabilities and long-term health conditions.

We regulary engage with The Office For Fair Access (OFFA) — the independent regulator of fair access to higher education in England. It has recently published two briefings, reviewing disability and estrangement.

UCAS is a member of the Fair Education Alliance – a coalition of organisations from across education, charities, and business. Together, the FEA is working to tackle educational inequality, building a fairer education for all by 2022.

UCAS works in partnership with charities and other sector organisations to provide advice and resources for under-represented groups, and to support students’ individual needs. As part of this work, UCAS has also produced this factsheet(443.74 KB) in conjunction with the FEA to explain to teachers and advisers what contextualised admissions might mean for student applications.

If you have any suggestions or feedback on our resources, please email Ben Jordan, Senior Policy Executive, at b.jordan@ucas.ac.uk.